


Rewards

by Jerevinan



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, Fluff, Husbands, M/M, Vacation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-06-29 03:29:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15721065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jerevinan/pseuds/Jerevinan
Summary: After Noctis loses a bet and must reward his husband with a vacation, Ignis drives them out to Caem for a romantic week. Everything would be perfect, if not for the sudden blizzard that arrives unseasonably late and covers all their plans in snow.Ignis is not discouraged, however, and is determined to make the best of their trip - snow or not.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is in the same AU as [The Worst Vacation](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11686317) and [The Kissing Card Game](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13594935). In fact, this is the vacation Noctis owes Ignis as his reward for winning the kissing card game they played. (And where my lazy title comes in - the document has been titled "Kissing Game Rewards" for months.)
> 
> More tags will be added as I post chapters, but I'm rating explicit because there will be sex in at least one if not two of them. This fic is mostly romantic fluff.

With late winter came the unpredictability of the weather. Ignis and Noctis left Insomnia with the spring sun warm on their backs. Closer to Cape Caem, the wind chill dropped and a blizzard chased them down the remainder of the highway. Ignis parked in the gravel lot as flurries swirled around them. 

The cold bit through their clothing as they hauled their luggage up the worn steps to the main house. Noctis dumped his armful only a yard from the front door and made a show of shivering in his coat as he hurried to the thermostat. Ignis slammed the door closed with his foot. Wind gusts protested against the wood of the house in eerie howls.

“Why winter?” Noctis fumbled with the switches to turn on the electricity and heat in near-dark conditions. It was only the early afternoon—Ignis _might_ have sped a bit more than usual to beat the storm—but the thick clouds outside allowed for less sunlight than usual to filter in from the upper windows. “We could have done this in spring or summer…”

“There’s always someone here during those months,” said Ignis. “Between family and friends, this place never has any privacy. Or don’t you remember that?”

Noctis groaned. “Thanks for reminding me, as if my dads never do.”

Ignis headed for the staircase. “Once it warms up in here, you’ll like it better. The snow will be gorgeous in the morning.”

“If you’re wrong, I’m going to drop snowballs down your shirt.”

The blizzard didn’t take long to blow in, the gusts banging any loose sideboards against the house in a fury. Ignis found the cabinets filled with vinyl-protected blankets and unzipped them. It took several hours for the house to warm, even after they started the fireplace in the downstairs bedroom and scooted one of the sofas near it. With hot chocolate and a thick woolen blanket, Ignis and Noctis huddled together still wearing their winter coats.

“Please tell me it won’t be like this all week,” pleaded Noctis, glancing up at Ignis through his eyelashes in desperation. “We should’ve stayed in Insomnia.”

Ignis pressed down the concern nagging in his breast. He combed his fingers through Noctis’ hair more for his comfort than his husband’s. The weather forecast called for chill winds and partly cloudy skies early in the week, with the promise of warm seasonal changes by Tuesday. The sunlight would have been perfect for fishing, but Ignis feared Noctis might lose out on his favorite hobby. Perhaps it had been badly planned to vacation in Caem so early. Beating the family and friends for privacy was one thing; blizzards were quite another.

“We’ll be fine. Even if the electricity cuts, we have the fireplace and plenty of blankets. Let’s hope the snow thaws tomorrow.”

Noctis groaned and attempted to wriggle closer against Ignis as if they had any distance left between them. He huffed, strands of black hair fanning out from his forehead. Ignis stroked it back and kissed the exposed furrowed brows repeatedly until they relaxed. 

“I guess this is nice, too,” Noctis relented. “Don’t get a lot of quiet time.”

“Once the house is warm enough, why don’t you help me cook? We’ve missed lunch while beating the storm, but we still have time for a late supper.”

Ignis hadn’t packed much, having planned to stock up the next morning at a nearby town and fill the pantries in Caem. If he were to browse the cabinets, what would he find? Among the tin of hot chocolate mix, he noticed cans of fish and olives. Nothing appetizing. Regis and Clarus always kept nonperishables at the house, but he would need to see what was in the main pantry. Surely Ignis could whip something up between whatever he found and the ingredients he brought along. 

After digging through the pantry, his box of goods, and the cooler, Ignis collected a can of cream of mushroom and spread it—along with some tinned meat—over toast. He seasoned it to disguise some of the aluminum taste, but they would have to be content with consuming mostly preservatives. A large bag of rice sat untouched in the pantry, too, and there were tins of carrots and peas. With some sauce, Ignis could fry up rice. The generator guaranteed they wouldn’t risk losing power. It was one of the few perks of staying next to a lighthouse—everything had its own source of power to prepare for the worst weather conditions.

Noctis shuffled reluctantly out of the bedroom when called for dinner. The temperature had risen between the heated house and the fireplace, but he still wore slippers and his winter coat, and a thick blanket remained draped about his shoulders. He plopped in front of his plate and curled his nose.

“What’s this?”

“It has mushrooms, which you’ve been known to eat when I prepare them.” Ignis has not honed his cooking skills for nothing; they come in handy against a picky prince. Even some vegetables have passed Noctis’ lips in the years since Ignis first started working on his own cuisine instead of following recipes word-for-word from books.

Noctis sniffed at a forkful before tentatively placing it in his mouth. When he didn’t spit it out, Ignis smiled.

“See?”

“It tastes like cans.”

“Yes, well, most everything in this house is either tinned or dry. We could’ve had rice and beans.”

“Beans? No, no way.” Noctis made a face. “I think I’ll stick with mushrooms.”

Despite his protests, Noctis consumed every bite and cleared his plate. They washed the dishes and listened to the weather report on Ignis’ phone, which was propped up against the coffeemaker. 

“Guess the storm’s headed out of the area,” Noctis murmured as he finished drying the last plate. He stood on his tiptoes to put it away, and his coat road up, along with the shirt underneath, just enough to reveal a sliver of bare skin along his hip. After Noctis flattened his clothing back down, Ignis moved in—arms stretched and ready to envelop Noctis in warmth.

“There are other ways we can deal with the cold,” said Noctis, grinning.

“Yes, but your eyes betray your tiredness.” Ignis flicked away the bangs that got in the way of Noctis’ face. They were both tired, having left Insomnia early. The stress of the storm left them weary and cold and cranky. The night would not be suitable for lovemaking. “We have all week, Noct. No need to rush.”

“If we wait, my dads will show up.” 

“I checked their schedules, and they’re both far too busy to travel out here to hassle their son, especially with two children still left to torment in Insomnia.” Ignis broke the embrace, but not without a gentle kiss. “Let’s get comfortable and rest.”

Noctis—never one to refuse a chance to sleep—nodded as he yawned. Ignis took him by the hand and led him back into the bedroom.

~*~

Noctis had made sure the fireplace was out before dinner so there would be no unattended flames. But even with the heater on and their blankets, the room remained chilly. Noctis shivered in his pajamas and oversized hoodie, and the socks on his toes were useless. 

“We need more blankets,” said Noctis. The house needed a lot more than that—he would have to talk his dads into fixing the vacation home up. 

“There are more in the upstairs bedroom.” 

“Ah, I’ll get them.” Noctis would have rather crawled into bed, but by moving around, he stayed warmer. On the landing, he glanced toward the window. The frost and darkness prevented him any view of the conditions outside, but at least the wind had stopped battering the poor house. That part had scared him a little. Not that he would admit it. 

His fathers had always taken him out to Caem during warmer seasons, usually in summer. The gentle sea breeze would ruffle through his hair, the sun hot against the back of his shirt while he sat for hours on the rocks, trying to fish. Gladiolus had taught him how, and the two of them would sit for hours until Clarus threatened to feed their dinner to Bismarck. 

At the latest, they would visit in early autumn. There would be fresh pumpkins from harvest sitting in a barrel, and they would carve them and strew their guts across the table while Regis chided them not to make a mess. The family enjoyed the harvest festival together, wearing costumes and gathering candy that they would eat on the car ride back to Insomnia—complete with tummy aches and whining.

Well, that was what had happened when they were children, anyway. Even Iris has long since outgrown many of those customs, and Gladiolus and Noctis married their partners. Their fathers were at the age to become grandfathers. Noctis was starting to consider having a child—perhaps it was time to broach the subject of fatherhood to Ignis. It would be fun to hear the pattering of feet on the floorboards at the old Caem house and teach a child to fish.

But they would _not_ visit in winter.

Wearing slippers would have been wise—the upstairs proved to be colder than downstairs, and Noctis shivered beneath his hoodie. Warm woolen blankets would be waiting for him. He only needed to survive for a few minutes.

He sat on the end of a bed and dug through a nearby chest. As he rifled through the blankets, looking for the comfiest of them all, a memory hit him. On that same bed a few years ago, before he married Ignis, the two of them had tried to have a little fun while his family visited the lighthouse. They were overheard, and Noctis’ cries drew them to the upstairs bedroom, where they were given a full view of Noctis’ red ass and Ignis’ equally colored face. That had been one of the most humiliating moments of his life, but Noctis thought it funny when he looked back on it. 

Noctis heard the floorboards creaking behind him and patted the spot on the bed beside him. A wicked grin spread on his face.

“Remember what happened a few years ago?”

“How could I forget, when your fathers haven’t let us? You’re far less embarrassed about it these days than you were back then.” 

Noctis had grown up since then, and the only thing he felt they did wrong was fail to use more discretion with Iris around. “We could always try again.”

“Would you like me to call Clarus and Regis and invite them out here for the show?”

“Not. Funny.”

“Not that they could make the trip in the snow.” Ignis knelt near Noctis and began pulling out blankets from the chest. 

Noctis didn’t _hate_ the cold, but he wasn’t a big fan, either. Getting snowed out in the middle of nowhere didn’t seem like the start to a promising week. No fishing, no cookouts around the fire, no watching the fireflies from the porch.

“Maybe we should stay in bed all week.” Noctis pecked his husband on the cheek. “Lots of stuff we could do there to keep warm.”

“ _You_ may not get bored with that idea, but _I_ would.”

Noctis laughed.

“I think you’ll like what we’re going to do in a few minutes, once we have enough blankets.”

They finished piling their arms with blankets and padded downstairs quickly. They got to work with a bit of cardboard and tape, covering the window to buffer any drafts, and Ignis made sure to spread a couple of extra blankets at the foot of the bed for their toes. Noctis had another extra to drape over his neck and shoulders. 

“All toasty warm?” asked Ignis as he flipped off the lamp beside their bed.

“I’ll get there.” Noctis snuggled a little closer, drawing one arm around Ignis’ torso and burrowing his head into the crook of his arm. “Yeah, that’s better.”

He had a feeling that despite the chill, he would sleep well in Ignis’ arms. He always slept better with his favorite person beside him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to Obsessive Trash, who mentioned Ignis as the snowball fight king… I asked if I could use that in some way, because I had already involved sledding in this chapter. :D

The morning sun melted the frost around the windows and shone bright against the white-coated wonderworld outside, and Ignis had a good feeling about the rest of their week. He hummed as he flittered about the kitchen, putting together a breakfast of hot chocolate and peanut butter sandwiches with applesauce. Like the night before, they had to suffer through hot chocolate with water rather than milk—something Ignis hoped to remedy later that day. 

“Guess this will do,” said Noctis, eyeing his plate with some disdain. He nibbled on the sandwich as if he were poison, but the applesauce must have helped lessen the pain of chewing down something that would otherwise be dry. 

“I promise once the snow melts a bit, we’ll hit Taelpar and check their grocery store.” The little town wasn’t far from the cape, so even with icy roads, they could drive slow and steady and still be back within a couple of hours.

Ignis had almost finished his plate when Noctis snapped his fingers and stood up.

“I just remembered something!”

Noctis scurried into the downstairs bedroom. When Ignis heard scraping and clattering, he hurried in to investigate. A butt wiggled up from the ground, the rug folded back. A trapdoor? Ignis had no idea the room had one. Usually a table and carpet rested over that particular spot.

“Dad and Pop have a stash,” said Noctis, arm stretched inside and backside aimed further into the air. Ignis thought about playfully cracking his hand across that pert derriere, but for fear of Noctis losing balance, refrained.

“Stash of what?” Ignis drew closer to have a look.

Noctis held up a bag of marshmallows. Ignis took it from him, and it was followed by a bag of jerky, several types of candy, toasted pastries, snack cakes, and dried fish packets.

“How did you know about this?” asked Ignis, checking the expiration dates on each of the items. Knowing Clarus, things were regularly tossed out of the house to ensure the safety of the family, but Ignis wanted to be thorough in case Clarus hadn’t been out at Caem for a while. 

Noctis didn’t even glance at the date on the boxed cookies before diving into them. It took some persuasion to pry them from his arms, and once Ignis had them in his clutches, Noctis snatched up the rest of the sweet foods and jerky and marched back into the main room. With very little space left in his arms, he used his mouth to hang onto some of the packets of meat.

Once they were spread out over the table, Noctis answered Ignis’ question.

“I found out about it when I was small. Dad tried to slip something in, and I pretended I didn’t notice. I used to pin all the missing food on Gladio, ‘cos the first thing that ever went missing was the meat.”

“Did that work?” 

“Not really, but it was worth a try. My dads are too smart not to figure out there’s a second culprit—or a third, when Iris started helping us steal it. We’d have her stand guard or grab the items with the promise we’d share all the sweets. Dad and Pop couldn’t fault us. It wasn’t fair they were keeping all the good stuff to themselves.” 

Noctis bit into another cookie, and Ignis tried to imagine Clarus and Regis sitting in that room on a bed, diving into their food stash in the middle of the night. 

“I’m sure they left it there to tease you,” said Ignis.

“They would have shared, I’m sure, but they were too amused by how mutinous the three of us were—and that we actually got along better when we stole snacks as a team.”

Now that made it easier to picture why Regis and Clarus kept a stash of goods under the floorboards.

Ignis took a marshmallow and dropped it into his hot chocolate. He stirred it around with a spoon as it melted. He stole one of the miniature cookies to dip into his drink. That filled his stomach a little more and gave him the energy he needed to check outside.

It took some effort to unstick the front door in the cold. While the wind from last night had died, leaving them with an eerily breezeless morning, icy air seeped in through the door, and snow that had drifted onto the deck crumbled into the entryway. Ignis stepped outside bracingly in nothing more than his coat and pajamas. With the door shut behind him to prevent anymore heat escaping, he took a look around. The path down to the Regalia would be treacherous—lots of ice had formed over the gravel. Only a few inches of snow had landed during their brief storm, but it was enough that Ignis wanted to wait until closer to noon to see if more would melt.

When he stepped back inside, Noctis had cleared the table and stacked all his fathers’ stolen snacks on the cabinet next to the coffeemaker. He had even put in the effort to sort them into the only category relevant to him: his favorites were on top while all the acceptably edible foods rested at the bottom.

“It’s cold,” Noctis complained as Ignis slammed the door behind him. 

“We’ll try for Taelpar later this morning,” said Ignis, shrugging off his coat. 

“Won’t that be even colder?” Noctis slid his arms around Ignis and made a big fuss with pretending to shiver. 

“Do you want to eat?”

“I found snacks.”

“Real food. You’re going to get a stomachache if you live off of marshmallows and toasted pastries.” Knowing Noctis, he wouldn’t, but it didn’t hurt to encourage him to eat healthier. “I’ll drive carefully, and we’ll have the heater on. Besides, the sun is out. I’m sure it’ll warm up and melt most of the snow.”

Ignis was only partially right. By the time it drew closer to noon, most of the snow had melted off the roof of the house. He could hear it dripping outside the windows as he soaked in a hot bath with Noctis and later snuggled with him in front of the fireplace as their hair dried. They were even able to turn down the thermostat a bit—true proof that even an unseasonably late blizzard couldn’t chase away the coming spring.

~*~

Noctis’ stomach growled as he smelled the fresh hamburgers cooking in the diner. The smell wafted over to their table. Other than a few people leaving their homes to run their businesses and a few locals lingering in the diner to chat about sports and the weather, the little town was quiet. 

“This is gonna be good,” said Noctis. “Remember that time Pop took us here when we were kids?”

Clarus seldom ever took the family out to eat during their trips to Caem. Even at home, Clarus used to prepare all the meals for the family, too proud of his skills in a kitchen or outside on the grill to accept that his children could eat something of lesser quality. 

“He only brought us here because his charcoal got wet. _Someone_ didn’t put it away properly.” Ignis narrowed his eyes at the culprit. “You were grounded from fishing the following day.”

“For the burgers, that was totally worth it.”

“You didn’t seem to think so back then. You whined about it all day. Mostly to _me_.” 

Noctis shrugged. “Well, looking back, it wasn’t that bad. I had two cheeseburgers and all-you-can-eat fries.” 

To emphasize his delight, he reached over and plucked a fresh fry from the basket between them. They were on their second one while they waited for the cheeseburgers, and Ignis had barely touched most of them.

“Pop has no idea of the power of junk food over good cooking. I’m glad you get that.” Noctis grinned up at his husband, who couldn’t help but smile back at him. “You had the best idea about eating lunch here, even though we had to travel in the snow.”

“Yes, the snow you whined about almost as much as you whined about being grounded from fishing for a day.” 

Noctis tried not to munch on too many fries, not wanting to kill his appetite before the burgers arrived. Unlike when he was a kid and purposely sabotaged his father’s grilling for a day, Noctis only ordered one cheeseburger to go with the fries, but those crispy potatoes were sating a stomach that had spent the last twenty-four hours on a diet of non-perishables. He let out a whine when he finished the second basket off anyway.

A third came with the burgers when they were delivered. Noctis pushed the salad at the corner of his plate far away from the bread, nose curled when he noticed a shred of lettuce embedded in his bun. He forked it out before he picked up his cheeseburger with both hands and took a bite. 

In that moment, every bad part of their vacation so far was erased. The taste of the burger and the melted cheese—all seasoned to perfection—pushed aside every complaint he had about the weather and the cold and the lack of good food. 

“You should grill burgers,” said Noctis after he swallowed his first bite. “Once the snow melts.”

“I don’t know if I can. You might’ve forgotten to put Clarus’ charcoal away properly.”

“Specs, I was twelve and did that on purpose. That’s the only reason I even got grounded—Pop knew why I’d done it.” Noctis laughed at the memory of Clarus exaggerating their coming starvation for the day because someone had neglected to put away the charcoal properly the night before. “There’s only so much barbeque a kid can take.”

“I can’t disagree. You saved us all.” 

Noctis sighed, leaning his cheek against his fist. “I miss those days—being a carefree kid and all. Adulthood stinks. There’s only one perk, and that’s being married to you.”

That brought out the biggest smile from Ignis. One that Noctis could have stared at all day. 

“I love you, Specs.” 

“I love you more.” 

“That’s probably true, but you have no idea how much I love you. I’ll show you when we get back to Caem.” Noctis winked and popped a fry in his mouth.

Once they finished off their meal and purchased soda and coffee to-go, they made their way to the general store across the street. The roads were covered in salt and water, with only a few patches of slush left. Kids were using trash container lids as sleds on a hill nearby. Noctis paused in the parking lot of the store and watched them for a minute, feeling envious again. It would have been nice to be young again.

Ignis tugged him along after a while. “Come now, we can have our own fun back at Caem.”

“Yeah, but it’s not the same.” Noctis couldn’t believe those words had left his mouth. He was willing to pass up sex to have fun in the snow. The snow he had loathed just twenty-four hours ago.

“We can,” said Ignis. “I’m sure there’s a plastic sled in the storage closet at the house, and there aren’t any rules about acting like adults on vacation—are there?”

“You mean we’re going sledding?” Noctis’ face lit up as if someone had announced a new Assassin’s Creed game. 

“We’ll hurry home and try before it gets dark,” promised Ignis as he pulled out a cart from the vestibule. 

“Let’s get some food and hurry back home!” Noctis bounced ahead of Ignis, ignoring his husband’s recited meal plans and ingredients in favor of tossing in a few of his favorite snacks. This would be the best vacation ever.

What snacks were best for post-sledding?

~*~

The cold air rushed around Noctis’ face as the sled made its way down the hill. Ignis’ arms tightened their grip around his middle, but his husband’s laughter was sharp in his ear. They steered the sled toward the parking lot. As soon as they got too close to a tree, Noctis bailed out, pushing his body to one side. Ignis followed with a groan.

Noctis helped him to his feet. “Let’s go again!”

“We’ve already been three times.” Ignis rubbed his right wrist, which he had used during his landing.

“I’ll go by myself, no worries.” Noctis kissed his husband’s cheek before fetching the sled. This had been the best idea. Ignis had been right about the sled in storage. It was a little old and dirty, but it worked fine. Whoever had left it in the closet had been thinking about his future happiness—or at least, that’s what he chose to believe.

The worst part about sledding had to be trekking up the hill again. All the stairs up to the lighthouse were slick—especially those in the shade. To avoid crashing the sled into any fences and being sent over the edge of a cliff onto the rocks below, Noctis didn’t take it up very high. They found that the dip toward the parking lot was a decent place. As long as Noctis didn’t slide all the way out to the main road, he would be fine.

The next ride down lacked the fun of having Ignis hugging him from behind and laughing in his ear. Noctis still let out a gleeful whoop as the sled bumped its way over the snowy terrain and sped toward the parking lot. He careened it out of the way of a couple of trees and rocks, but it caught in something beneath the snow and send him flying forward. 

“Noctis!” 

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Noctis hopped to his feet, hand in the air as if ready to reason with Ignis about his own good health. Other than how frozen his hands felt, he was otherwise unharmed.

“You should be wearing gloves,” said Ignis, who had outfitted in his coat, a scarf, a cap, earmuffs, and coeurl-fur lined gloves. 

Noctis, on the other hand, had wanted to relive a little more of his youth. Accessories meant restricting movement and fun. As a little boy, Clarus and Regis would force him into so many layers that he would be miserable, and he used to lie about how he wasn’t cold just to see if he could remove one of the sweaters and his hideous snow boots. Not that it ever worked. As soon as he was out of sight of his parents, Noctis would toss most of his clothing in his backpack on the way to school. 

He caught more than a few colds for it, as well as several lectures from his fathers. But he didn’t mind, when it meant Ignis would come over and fuss at his bedside after school. They would have lemon cider while Ignis read to him from their favorite book about constellations. 

An evening just like that would be perfect, and luckily, he had thought to grab honey and lemons from the grocery store earlier that day.

Noctis hadn’t come totally unprepared, however, and pulled a pair of gloves out of his pocket. He didn’t need them for sledding, but he did need them for throwing snowballs. He slipped them over his fingers and used their leather to mold the perfect sphere.

Ignis was prepared, having watched him from a distance. They both locked each other down as targets and tossed their weapons through the air. Noctis’ snowball hit the tree behind Ignis when he ducked, but Noctis moved too fractionally out of the way, and a snowball exploded against the sleeve of his left arm.

“Not fair!” Noctis scooped up more snow and took off at a run up the hill. 

Ignis took chase, but he could throw much further and with more precision than Noctis. A few of them missed, but Noctis found himself ducking behind rocks and around trees in order to escape one snowball after another. White powder exploded like artillery fire around them. Noctis laughed when one hit the side of his head and dusted his hair. 

“I’m winning,” said Ignis, who had only been hit a few times compared to the dozen or so he landed on Noctis.

Ten minutes later, they were out of breath and sitting side-by-side on the salted deck steps up to the house. Noctis leaned over and grabbed a fistful of snow, depositing it right on Ignis’ head.

“There.” He kissed Ignis on the nose. “I win.”

“You cheated, and I still won by thirteen hits more than you.”

“You counted?” Noctis huffed and settled his weight against Ignis’ side. “Guess you do win. What reward do you want for that?”

“To go inside out of the cold,” admitted Ignis.

They were reluctant to get up despite the chill outside. Noctis’ legs hurt from running around in the snow. But as his heart rate slowed, the cold began to seep back into his bones, and his shoes had been soaked thorough, meaning that he needed to get them off and set them by the fireplace to dry. 

“Let’s go,” said Noctis, extending a hand to Ignis to help him up. He kissed him quickly before they ducked inside together, this time looking forward to doing all the things couples did to stay warm.


End file.
